They had him cornered.
Abby hated doing this to him, but Lester had told her that unless they could figure out what was wrong with Connor, he'd have to be sent on leave. She had asked Connor to her lab to talk to him, and the rest of the team was waiting for them instead. He'd gone pale and tried to bolt, but Danny stood in his way, blocking the door.
"Abby..." he whined softly.
"Connor, please," she implored, stepping closer to him but stopping when he flinched. Imzadi was tucked inside his jacket, only the tips of her ears and the end of her tail visible. "You have to talk to us. We all know that something happened when Helen captured you, and we know that you're still hurting over it. Please, talk to us. We can help you, Connor," she coaxed in a gentle voice.
He shook his head vigorously, trying to back away from them but having no place to go. Jenny, Sarah, Danny, Abby, even Becker were all in there. "No. Leave us alone," he whispered. "Don't. Leave us alone. Don't do this, Abby, please. Just...just leave us alone."
Abby's throat tightened, seeing him look more like a frightened little boy than anything else. "You do realise that's the most you've said all week, right?" she murmured.
Danny's voice came softly from where he stood, still leaning against the door. "She's right, Connor. I don't know what that crazy bitch did to you, but I know she's messed you up, and keeping all that inside isn't doing anything for you," he said quietly.
Connor was visibly shaking now, clutching Imzadi close to his chest, pressing her to his heart like he intended to somehow merge them into one being. "Helen. I wouldn't talk. I wouldn't tell her what the artefact did. She didn't believe I didn't know," he rasped out, eyes wide and glazed over with memories. "She…I wouldn't talk…she said she had to resort to…other measures." He shuddered and squeezed his dæmon harder to his chest; she pressed her claws into his flesh, but each bite of pain was dear to him.
"What happened?" asked Abby softly, one hand reaching but not touching, a silent offering of comfort. What did she do to you, Connor? Why are you still afraid?
"She…touched us. She…she held Imzadi."
They all blanched at that, even Becker of the steel nerves going pale and looking faintly ill. Ki let out a scared squeak, burrowing into Sarah's arms. Aurora and Ridley both whined, tails tucked between their legs, ears flat. Aegis grabbed his tail in his mouth, curling into a prickly ball. Zurial let out a soft growl even as he sprang up into Jenny's lap, tucking his muzzle into the crook of her elbow.
"She touched your dæmon? With her hands?" Sarah gasped, clutching Ki protectively close.
Connor nodded, a soft sob escaping him as he buried his nose in Imzadi's pelt, tears dripping onto her fur.
It was the worst thing that anyone could ever do, touch someone else's dæmon. It was quite literally taking that person's soul into one's hands. It was the greatest taboo there was, as natural to them as breathing. Even in the heat of battle, a soldier would never dream of grabbing his enemy's dæmon. There were only two exceptions to the rule – an infant might grab at their parents' dæmons, innocent and unaware, or, rarely, the very closest and most intimate of lovers might touch each other's dæmons in a moment of passion.
Connor's voice came out broken and lonely, like an abandoned child. "It was awful, the worst thing I've ever felt. Nothing she did to me before that compared. I'd have gladly let her break every bone in my body if she never touched us again. It was like she…she reached into me and tried to pull my heart out of my chest, was grabbing something in me that no other human being is ever supposed to touch. I felt sick and dizzy and afraid, and what's worse, I could…I could feel Helen through Imzadi. It was like looking down into an abyss with no bottom. She was cold and oily and sick, and she liked what she was doing to me. She liked making us hurt."
"Oh, Connor," Abby breathed, tears rolling down her cheeks. She wanted so badly to wrap her arms around him, to hug him close and tight until that hurt little boy went away, but she couldn't, not yet. Still, she held out both arms to him, hands open.
He let out a hoarse sob, collapsing into her arms. She held his head against her shoulder, stroking his hair with one hand and rubbing circles on his back with the other, murmuring sweet nothings. She felt another set of arms wrap around them and opened her eyes to see Jenny there, tears in her dark eyes. Then Sarah was there too, completing the cage of arms around him, surrounding him. Connor shivered and trembled, his entire body shuddering against them.
Becker and Danny weren't exactly the hugging sorts, but they were willing to make an exception for this, for something so awful. Their geek, youngest of the team, the kindest and most innocent of them, had been violated in the worst way by the worst person. Becker rested one hand on Connor's arm, Danny's hand on his back, offering their own silent comfort.
After a few moments, Connor had cried himself out, practically passing out from exhaustion. He stretched out on the couch, his head cradled against Abby's stomach, lying out on the couch next to him, and she had gentle arms curled around him, one hand resting in his hair. Jenny sat on the other end of the couch, Connor's legs across her lap; she didn't even seem to care about the smudges of dirt his shoes left on her skirt. Her hand rested on his knee. Sarah was sitting at her table, getting to work on cleaning the artefact. Becker and Danny had drawn up chairs close by, the copper reading and the captain looking over his Mossberg. They weren't speaking to each other, but that didn't matter. Connor could start healing now, surrounded by his team, knowing they'd hold him together.
On the floor beside the couch, Imzadi was curled into a ball of silvery-grey-brown fur, shivering, with Aegis burrowed in the fur around her shoulders. Zurial and Ki were pressed against the genet's sides, gently nuzzling, and Aurora and Ridley lay side-by-side, shielding the smaller creatures against them until they were a warm, comfortable knot of fur and scales. They surrounded Imzadi in warmth and shelter, the sense of safety she felt radiating into Connor as well, letting him sleep peacefully for the first time since their rescue. He was finally home.
"I would like that woman slow-roasting on a spit, well-done, with an apple shoved in her mouth."
Lester smirked as he flicked off the CCTV recording. "Ah, if only, if only."
His dæmon shuffled her talons, her feathery feet curled tightly around her perch beside his desk, her curved black talons glinting wickedly. Aster fluffed herself out, each feather starkly outlined in the harsh fluorescent lighting. "She touched Imzadi, James," she hissed, clicking her beak in revulsion and fury.
He lifted a hand and lightly stroked the backs of his fingers across her feathers, smoothing them down. "I know. That is why I've changed orders. Helen Cutter is no longer to be detained. She's to be shot on sight, no exceptions," he replied.
Aster let out a pleased churr, affectionately nipping at his fingers. "Excellent. If I ever see that mutant crocodile she calls a soul, I intend to sharpen my claws on his face."
"That's my girl." He smiled, sitting back in his chair with hands folded over his stomach. If they got hold of Helen Cutter again, they were going to find a way to make her hurt. She had done something unspeakable to Temple, and even if the geek wasn't Lester's favourite person, he fully intended to make her pay for it, her and that toxic creature of a dæmon.
Nobody hurt their ARC and got away with it.